Thomas Ambrose Butler (1837–1897), “The Poet Priest of the West,” was an Irish American priest known for his writings on Irish immigration. To support Irish immigrants facing hardships in America, he helped organize an Irish colony in Butler City, Kansas.
Early Life in Ireland
Thomas was born in Dublin, Ireland to a middle-class family. As a child, he attended St. Paul’s Parish in Dublin and completed his secondary education at schools run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers.
When Thomas heard of John Henry Newman’s new institution, Catholic University of Ireland, he was the first to sign his name on the roster. He left the university in 1854 to enroll at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
An Irish Priest in America
After spending the first three years of his priesthood in Wicklow County at St. Nicholas Parish in Dunlavin, Thomas immigrated to America. In 1867, he was named assistant pastor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Leavenworth, Kansas.
As Thomas fulfilled his spiritual duties, he met many Irish immigrants. Recognizing the hardships they faced, he started to promote Kansas as a safe haven where the Irish could develop farms and communities.
Thomas spent eight years traveling throughout the state of Kansas, giving Mass, dispensing sacraments, and reviewing the progress of Irish immigrants. He then moved to St. Louis, Missouri to become pastor of St. James Parish.
Butler City, Kansas Becomes a Colony for Irish Immigrants
In St. Louis, Thomas was surrounded by Irish immigrants who were living in extremely poor conditions and struggling to establish themselves in America. In an effort to help his fellow countrymen, he secured the support of a group of wealthy Irishmen to establish an Irish colony in Northeast Kansas.
In 1887, the group bought 12,000 acres of land from Union Pacific in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, and a handful of Irish immigrants moved west to establish the community of Butler City. Eventually, 600 people relocated to Butler City, with St. Columbkille Catholic Church as its focal point.
While Butler City grew, Thomas remained in St. Louis and founded St. Cronan Catholic Church, named in honor of Crónán of Roscrea, a 7th-century Roman Catholic Saint known for his work in Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. When he visited the Kansas community he helped organize in April 1890 (renamed Blaine to avoid confusion with another place named Butler), he was greeted enthusiastically by practically the entire population.
“The Poet Priest of the West”
Outside the priesthood, Thomas was a well-regarded writer and was dubbed “The Poet Priest of the West.” He authored two important publications, both of which dealt with Irish immigration.
Thomas’ book, The State of Kansas and Irish Immigration was published in 1871. It discusses his time in Kansas as a clergyman in Leavenworth. For people in Ireland considering moving to the United States, Thomas offered this advice:
“I am not an admirer of Irish emigration; I would rather a million times that “the old race” could hold every inch of “the old land.” I believe that the agony of separation, and the consequent terrible feeling of exile from friends and nation, leave an imprint on the heart that cannot be erased. Let those who can live at home in Ireland stay there, unless their family’s future prospects are terribly bleak.”
Thomas’ other book, The Irish on the Prairies and Other Poems, was published in 1874. It features a collection of his own poems and songs about the “Old Land,” immigration, and life on the Kansas grasslands.
Thomas Ambrose Butler Remembrance
Thomas died on September 6, 1897, while still pastor of St. Cronan’s in St. Louis. P. B. Cahill of Macon, Missouri, delivered an emotional sermon at his Requiem Mass:
“…When chronicling the actions and deeds of the pioneer priests of the St. Louis diocese, the diocese’s historian cannot overlook the latest urn closed in the priests’ lot in Calvary Cemetery. And we bespeak a shining page in the history of Rev. Thomas Ambrose Butler, the Soggarth Aroon (translation: darling priest) of St. Cronan’s, the well-loved of his fellow priests, the poet priest of Missouri, if not the West, the gentleman, the scholar, the saint, the dearest friend ever we knew or anticipate to know on this planet. May his soul rest in peace, Amen!”
Thomas is buried in St. Louis near Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet Scott. Dred Scott was an enslaved African-American that unsuccessfully sued for his family’s freedom. The decade-long Dred Scott v. Sandford case ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court and was a stepping stone to the Civil War.
Primary Sources:
1. Butler, T. A. (1871). The State Of Kansas And Irish Immigration – Kansas Memory – Kansas Historical Society.
2. Butler, T. A. (1874). The Irish on the Prairies; and Other Poems.
3. Dogtown Historical Society. (n.d.). History Of St. James.
4. Smith, M. C. (1924). Our Pastors in Calvary: Biographical Sketches of Parish Priests of St. Louis
